1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a garment hanger, and more particularly pertains to a coordinate loop garment hanger having a hook receiving closed loop dependent from the bottom thereof for selectively receiving and suspending therefrom a hook of a second ganged garment hanger. The present invention also relates generally to a mold for molding a coordinate loop garment hanger and a method of molding a coordinate loop garment hanger.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It can be appreciated that many garments are designed to be worn and sold as coordinated outfits or sets. For example, a coordinate jacket and pant set, a coordinate jacket and top set, a coordinate short and top set, and other such coordinate combinations may be specifically manufactured to be sold as sets. In the sale of such coordinate garment sets, it is desirable to display these garments together to convey to the consumer that the garments are indeed a set to be purchased together. To that end the separate garments may be hung on separate hangers and displayed alongside or next to each other, or the garments may be hung on a single hanger. The drawbacks in such display methods are that in the first example some frame or support is required to display the garments together, and in the second example sharing a hanger may obscure one of the individual garments that make up the coordinate garment set.
It can also be appreciated that a further benefit in displaying such coordinate garment sets together, or in displaying garments of a similar style and color together, is that the amount of required display space can be significantly reduced. A still further benefit of displaying such coordinate items together is to make it easier for the consumer to find and purchase such garments. This economy of space and ease of organization may also extend to the transport and storage of such garments.
Moreover, in many cases, each separate garment requires a hanger of a different type, such as a hanger suitable for displaying a blouse used with a hanger capable of supporting a skirt or a pair of slacks. For this purpose, it has long been a practice to utilize hanger structures in which two hangers are ganged together, with one being suspended from the other. In other cases, attachments have been designed with the attachment constructed to be temporarily or permanently connected to a supporting hanger. These arrangements have not been satisfactory because they have normally required the hangers to be of such a design that they do not have utility other than as ganged hangers for simultaneous multiple garment display and transport When hangers of conventional construction have been modified to permit ganging, they have either involved a difficult and complex structure for attaching one garment hanger to the other or they have not been satisfactory in transportation because the vibration and jostling incident to transportation causes the hangers to become disconnected, allowing one of the garments to fall to the floor or the bottom of the transport container. This same lack of security of attachment has also been a problem at the point of display unless the hangers are carefully handled. It is also an important requirement that the cost of the hangers be kept as low as possible to meet the necessities of the garment manufacturing and merchandising field.
Prior art ganged garment hangers having a molded plastic body construction with an integral hook receiving element depending therefrom for suspending a second lower garment hanger are generally molded in a two piece separable mold. This method of manufacture requires that the component features of the molded garment hangers have symmetrical shapes which can be defined by the first and second halves of the two piece separable mold with no cavities therein which cannot be molded and completely defined by the two halves of the two piece separable mold.
This requirement has resulted in prior art designs for ganged garment hangers wherein the left and right elements defining the left and right halves of the hook receiving passageway of the suspension element have not been aligned with respect to each other along the direction of opening and closing of the mold, such that the left mold half can define the left side of each of the left and right side elements of the hook receiving passageway, and the right mold half can define the right side of each of the left and right side elements of the hook receiving passageway.
This requirement has resulted in prior art designs for ganged garment hangers wherein the left and right side elements defining the hook receiving passageway have been staggered or nonaligned with respect to each other along the length of the hook receiving passageway, to allow the left and right sides of each of the left and right side elements defining the hook receiving passageway to be defined and molded by the left and right mold halves.
Examples of the staggering or nonalignment of the left and right side elements defining the hook receiving passageway along the length of the hook receiving passageway are illustrated in Blanchard et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,678 wherein elements 21 and 22 are staggered along the length of the hook receiving passageway, and Willinger et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,321 wherein elements 42 and 44 are staggered along the length of the passageway, and Zuckerman U.S. Design No. 394,753.
Moreover, the staggering or nonalignment of the left and right side elements defining the hook receiving passageway along the length of the hook receiving passageway has resulted in several disadvantages for such prior art ganged garment hangers. The strength and durability of the hook receiving element is compromised by the design, resulting in more frequently broken hook receiving elements. The designs of the hook receiving element are also more complex and less compact. Moreover, the relatively complex shapes of the left and right side molds forming the hook receiving element result in mold shapes which are not easy to manufacture and which are more subject to wear and scoring over time with continued commercial usage of the molds.
The prior art also discloses hydraulically actuated mold pieces for moving mold pieces into and out of molding positions during and after molding operations. However, such hydraulical actuators are often large and cumbersome, and would not be able to be physically positioned in a relatively small mold such as a mold for a coordinate loop garment hanger pursuant to the present invention.